Stop the Pipeline!

Tar Sands Action!

Today marked the final day of the tar sands pipeline protest as a surge of Americans joined outside the White House in a historic effort to urge President Obama to stand up to big oil and deny the permit for a dangerous new tar sands oil pipeline.

I observed the rally in Lafayette Square Park as speeches from protest leaders and a petition with over half a million names circulated urging President Obama to deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit. Passionate chants sung in unison echoed throughout the square as people gathered from near and far creating stunning visuals of a human pipeline leading up to the front gate of the White House. Painted signs, home-made t-shirts, and people of all ages united under one cause creating a stunningly powerful movement.

I decided to put my Saturday plans aside and observe the rally after Obama’s decision Friday to delay high air control standards. The movement to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is gaining momentum and the decision will be pivotal for the U.S. on climate change.

The proposed 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline would carry tar sands oil from the oil sands of northern Alberta Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Building this pipeline not only will greatly impact communities across the United States, but also would profoundly impact climate change, our economy and human and natural systems through the U.S.

Pipelines have been spilling regularlyacross the U.S., but those spills could be minuscule compared to a true disaster that might occur from building the proposed and highly controversial tar sludge pipeline.